New Releases In Stores This Week : 10th April 2017

A rundown of the New Releases that should be hitting games stores this coming week! Board games, card games, RPGs, Wargames, Miniatures and collectible games... hopefully something for everyone! For more information about any of the products please contact your local games store.

Level 2 Adventure for DCC RPG
Far to the west, beyond civilized lands, lie the Tolomak Islands— volcanic peaks covered in pestilential jungle and bestriding sunken ruins. The legends say the Tolomaks are home to treacherous witches, ferocious cannibals, moon demons, and worse! Wise are those who steer well away from these accursed jungle isles, but not everyone is wise… For the legends also speak of power unimaginable and treasures beyond the limits of mortal avarice. Now, under the light of the triple moons, a band of intrepid adventurers sails ever nearer the islands. With luck, they will escape with a fortune; without it, they may not keep their souls.

Atlas of Earth Prime
Mutants & Masterminds Sourcebook
By Green Ronin

Visit a world not our own, but strangely familiar - a world of heroes and villains, of wonders and dangers, and limitless adventure! The Atlas of Earth-Prime is a trip around the world of the Freedom City and Emerald City settings for the Mutants & Masterminds RPG. Here, your heroes can explore the sites and perils of all seven continents, as well as fabled Atlantis, the Lost World, and the strange realms of Sub-Terra that lie at the center of the earth. Packed with locations, heroes, villains, and worldwide agencies, the Atlas of Earth-Prime is the campaign setting book Mutants & Masterminds fans have been waiting for!

Skip Tracers deftly navigate the galactic underworld to locate their targets and fulfill their contracts. The Skip Tracer Specialization Deck represents a new wealth of resources for the specialization, permitting easy access to the text of its talents and artwork to further immerse you in your games.
Each Specialization Deck contains:
· 2 cover cards (including a reference guide for each deck)
· 20 standard sized talent cards

Implacable combatants, Martial Artists combine physical and mental strength to weather any storm. The Martial Artist Specialization Deck represents a new wealth of resources for the specialization, permitting easy access to the text of its talents and artwork to further immerse you in your games.

Bringing to bear some of the most impressive ships and vehicles outside of the Empire, Operators leave their prey with no avenue of escape. The Operator Specialization Deck represents a new wealth of resources for the specialization, permitting easy access to the text of its talents and artwork to further immerse you in your games.

Bounty Hunter Signature Abilities highlight the two extremes of the hunters’ approach. Always Get My Mark provides a fortuitous set of circumstances that results in the quarry being set upon quite suddenly by the Bounty Hunter and compatriots. Unmatched Devastation wreaks havoc in the surrounding area, leaving none alive to stand between the hunter and prey.

----------------------------------------------

BOARD & CARD GAMES

Yamatai
2-4 players, ages 13+, 40-80 + minutes
By Days of Wonder

In Yamatai, 2-4 players compete to build palaces, torii, and their own buildings in the land of Yamatai. The game includes ten numbered action tiles, each showing one or more colored ships and with most showing a special action. You shuffle these tiles, place them in a row, then reveal one more than the number of players.

On a turn, each player chooses a tile, collects the depicted ships from the reserve, optionally buys or sells one ship, then places the ships on the board. The land has five entryways, and you must start from these points or place adjacent to ships already on the board. You can't branch the ships being placed, and if you place your first ship adjacent to another, then that first ship must be the same color as the adjacent one; otherwise you can place ships without regard to color.

After placing ships, you can either claim colored resources from land that you've touched with new ships this turn or build on one vacant space. To build, the space must have colored ships around it that match the ships depicted on one of the available building tiles. If you build a personal building that's connected to others you own, you receive money equal to the number of buildings.

You can bank one ship before the end of your turn, then you can use any three resources or a pair of matching resources to purchase a specialist, each of whom has a unique power.

After all players go, you shuffle the action tiles, place them face down in the row, then reveal enough tiles at the front of the line to set up for the next turn, with the turn order being determined by the numbers on the tiles that players chose the previous turn. Once you trigger one of the game-ending conditions — e.g., no ships of one color or no more specialists — you finish the round, then count points for buildings built, specialists hired, and money on hand.

Blood on the Altar Mythos Pack
Arkham Horror The Card Game Expanson
By Fantasy Flight Games

Blood on the Altar is the third Mythos Pack in The Dunwich Legacy cycle for Arkham Horror: The Card Game.

In the scenario from Blood on the Altar, your investigations lead you to the village of Dunwich, where you suspect a series of recent disappearances may be related to the events in Arkham. But the more you explore, the more you get the impression the townsfolk aren't exactly pleased to see you. There are secrets in this town that its inhabitants don't wish to share…

With its sixty cards (including a complete playset of each new player card), Blood on the Altar challenges you to delve the secrets of Dunwich. You'll need to travel throughout the town in search of clues, stopping to investigate many of the locations infamously identified in H.P. Lovecraft's classic tale, The Dunwich Horror.

Watchers on the Wall
A Game of Thrones The Card Game Deluxe Expansion
By Fantasy Flight Games

Travel north and join the Night’s Watch with Watchers on the Wall! Within this expansion, the Night’s Watch explores new and existing themes, as you find new ways to defend the Wall, new ways to conscript your opponent’s characters, and plenty of rewards for focusing on the three branches of the Night’s Watch: Rangers, Stewards, and Builders. Along with the nameless men who swell the ranks of the Night’s Watch, you’ll find new versions of iconic characters from throughout the saga, including Jon Snow, Old Bear Mormont, Maester Aemon, and Samwell Tarly.

And although the focus of this expansion rests on the Night’s Watch, you’ll find two new non-loyal cards for every other faction, expanding your options for any alliance. You’ll also receive an assortment of neutral cards portraying the Night’s Watch’s most common enemies, the Wildlings. With seven new plots (one loyal to the Night’s Watch) rounding out the expansion, Watchers on the Wall offers new pathways to victory for every deck.

The Battles of Khalkhin-Gol
Memoir ’44 Expansion
By Days of Wonder

The Battles of Khalkhin-Gol, the first installment in Days of Wonders' second series of Memoir '44 Battle Maps, offers a campaign of six standard scenarios that can be enhanced with the two pre-printed Breakthrough battles provided in this expansion.

In more detail, The Battles of Khalkhin-Gol is a series of battles fought along the Halha River (Khalkhin-Gol) on the Soviet-Japanese border at the very beginning of World War II.

The Japanese Sixth Army was facing the Soviet 57th Special Corps, including Mongolian cavalry. At first, the battles were only short skirmishes, but it soon escalated into open war. The whole campaign lasted five months and ended with a Soviet victory. The six standard scenarios of this expansion can be played separately or as a campaign, with each scenario outcome impacting the following one. The pre-printed Breakthrough scenarios — Bain Tsagan Heights and Tightening the Noose — can be played in the campaign as well as one of the two Overlord scenarios, Encirclement at Khalkhin-Gol.

The second Overlord scenario, Cape Torokina Landings, highlights the fierce battle for Cape Torokina between U.S. Marines and Japanese forces that took place years later; therefore, it is not part of the campaign.

This expansion also includes six Soviet BA-10 Armored Cars and six Japanese Type 97 Te-Ke tankettes that players will find useful for many of the scenarios included.

The Battles of Khalkhin-Gol is designed for 2 to 8 players. Each oversized map is ready-to-play with all terrain, obstacles, and unit positions pre-printed so players can simply add the figures and play. The various scenarios of the expansion require one copy of Memoir '44 (two for the Overlord scenarios), as well as the Terrain Pack, Eastern Front, and Pacific Theater expansions. The Equipment Pack and Winter Wars expansions are also recommended.

It's a cold and misty morning on the Irish coast. The salt-water spray is stinging your eyes and you're sleep-deprived, but there is nowhere else you'd rather be. You've secured your spot as a competitor in the world-renowned Coldwater Crown fishing tournament, and you're convinced you taste victory in the salty air. You were raised on these waters. You know how and when the fish like to bite, you know which bait to use, and, most importantly, you know how to strategically balance your catch of fish to reel in the most trophies. But nothing is certain on these frigid waters. Your competitors could beat you to the best fishing spots and the fish you want could disappear just before you get there. Will you be able to bring home the Coldwater Crown or will you get left-behind in your competitors' wake?

In Coldwater Crown you'll launch a plan to catch the perfect variety of fish from the Shore, River, and Lake. To catch fish, you’ll place different types of bait in four fishing zones. Using a brilliant new worker placement mechanic that lets you take actions both when you place AND when you pick-up Angler tokens, you'll begin clearing your zones, taking care to remove only bait that will help you catch the fish you need next. Whenever you clear the last piece of bait in a zone, you catch a fish corresponding to the color of the last piece of bait you cleared. You’ll also earn synergy points by clearing unique combinations of colors to catch fish in the special Master Angler Challenge.

If you can catch the right fish at the right times, your trophy count will begin to stack-up, bringing victory within reach. Every trophy you haul-in earns you victory points, and the most climactic moment occurs at the very end when players submit fish from each species to win the Shore, River and Lake contests. The player with the most points after all the contests are decided is declared the winner of the Coldwater Crown!

For players who enjoy worker-placement games, Coldwater Crown will feel both fresh and familiar. The smooth process of placing and removing an Angler token every turn combined with the puzzle-like mechanic of setting and clearing bait from the right place at the right time is a fun and rewarding experience. Play loosely to casually explore the game, or plan your moves carefully to optimize every fish you catch and secure victory. The choice is up to you!

Edwin Huang drew Munchkin Skullkickers and has now done a totally awesome version of Munchkin as part of the Guest Artist Edition program! His art has a sense of motion and dynamism that’ll make those Munchkin cards seem that much cooler!

Get in the driver seat and feel what it's like to live the life of a sweet treat trucker! Stock up your truck, attract customers, and serve a hefty scoop of tasty frozen delight! The best truckers get to know their customers' favorite selections so that they can always meet demand and gain an edge over the competition in the battle to claim the hottest locations. You'll see the business of icy entrepreneurship is no day at the beach. Buckle up, turn on the loudspeaker, and take to the rocky road...with ice cream!

Rocky Road à la Mode is a game of managing time and resources to meet the demands of sweet-treat-seekers! The game features multi-use cards and a time track that determines the players' turn order. The player whose ice cream truck is furthest back on the road goes next and may choose from several actions on their turn: stocking up on new treats, playing music over the loudspeaker to attract business, or passing out treats to fulfill customer desires. Every choice costs time and forces players to move ahead on the road track. Once a player is no longer in the rear of the pack, their turn ends until they find themselves lagging behind again.

In addition to gaining loyalty points from happy customers, players can gain bonus treats in their permanent supply so that they can meet demand a little easier. Throughout the game, players also fight to earn the right to take over several of the different territories that make summer great: the beach, the pool, the park, and the ballfield.

OutLawed
2-4 players, ages 10+, 20-30+ minutes
By Green Couch Games

Overwhelmed by the stress of the hooligan hootenanny that's overrunning the bustling town of Bandit Bluff, the resident deputy has up and left his post! Sheriff Croc Holliday is shuffling and hustling to find his next deputy. Looking to fill the vacancy, Croc has decided to put a pool of new recruits to work helping clean up some of Bandit Bluff's most wanted outlaws and will choose the most dedicated to be the new deputy! A little lying, some stealthy scheming, and the sense to know a good time to tell the truth might just help give a leg up over the rest of the herd. Who will out-law the other applicants to become the new deputy?

OutLawed! is a social game of bluffing, truth-telling, and out-thinking your opponents. Each player has an identical set of eleven outlaw cards imagined as animals escaped from the zoo somewhere in the wild, wild west. Over a series of rounds, players take turns playing a card face down and making a claim about which character card they played. Players are free to tell the truth about the character played or to make a bold-faced lie! After players have played cards and made their claims, all the characters are revealed and each player assesses whether or not they have met their outlaw's "apprehend if" condition. Players who were successful add their outlaws to their jail pile while all other players place the card back in their hand. Lionel Manesworth, for example, can be captured only if you tell the truth. The Vixen Twins get nabbed when others are convinced to play the same card during the round. Lawman Croc Holliday will catch anybody who isn't on the up and up.

Once a player fills up their jail, everyone compares their total reward value of apprehended cards to see who has earned the most rewards and gets to fill the vacant position as deputy of Bandit Bluff.

Saga of the Northmen
2-4 players, ages 12+, 30-40+ minutes
By Minion Games

Europe of the Dark Ages was a treacherous landscape of shifting alliances, warfare, and betrayal. Among the most feared peoples of this time were the Northmen, who came from the lands of Scandinavia to pillage and conquer, without warning and without mercy. In time, the Northmen established their own kingdoms across Europe, and came to dominate many more, gathering enormous wealth and establishing lucrative trade routes.

In Saga of the Northmen, you control a clan of mighty Northmen. Each round, you will use your influence cards to try to gain control of the seven major kingdoms of Europe. You will then maneuver the armies and fleets of the kingdoms that have fallen under your sway. Use your forces wisely, and the riches of Europe are yours for the taking. But beware, there are other clans who also seek plunder and coin. Only the richest and most notorious clan will prevail!

Overseers
3-6 players, ages 12+, 30-45+ minutes
By Thundergryph Games

Since the beginning of time, two opposing forces have been the pillars of the universe and coexist in eternal balance. Our Goddess in her infinite wisdom has sent a group of Overseers to protect our world. They have the power to bend human traits to their will, and they will always battle between each other to create the perfect symmetry between virtues and vices of humankind. You will now choose whether to find the best balance — or completely crush it for your own good.

Overseers is a drafting and bluffing game with a twist. Each player represents an Overseer whose objective is to bend traits in their favor to create the most dominant combination of virtues and vices.

In this strategic, dice-rolling skirmish game, you help either Peter Pan and his allies or Captain Hook and his crew to assault their rivals on Hook's pirate ship or in the lost boys' camp respectively. At the start of the game, you'll choose which faction to play as and then set up the appropriate location to attack. Whether you're playing as Peter and his allies or Hook and his crew, you'll then assault your foes' base of operations, drawing cards to search every nook and cranny for lost boys, fairies, and pirate treasure, while positioning yourselves around the board to bypass or fight off your enemies. Combat and actions are resolved through a dice system that determines what you can accomplish each turn. As the Peter and his allies, the game is won when you rescue all of the lost boys aboard Hook's ship. As Captain Hook and his crew, the game is won when you capture all of the lost boys hiding in their camp. In either case, the game is lost when your foes defeat enough of your characters!

Stealing from the rich and giving to the poor has Robyn and his allies defending Sherwood forest in this fully cooperative, tower-defense game set to knock, aim and loose your arrow to victory!Sherwood's Legacy is a fully co-operative tower-defense style game where you play one of the Merry men or their allies against the raiding forces of the Sheriff of Nottingham. Players must hold out against footmen, archers, knights and witches for several rounds while utilizing local villagers to hunt and gather resources which can be spend on defense and survival.Sherwood's Legacy offers a modular tile map where the path to Robyn's lair will always be different and the pace of the game will always be shifting. If you and your merry team can hold out long enough for King Richard and his men to return from the Holy Land, you win!

Doughnut Drive-Thru is a worker placement game set in a bakery, with players struggling in the narrow kitchen to create as much as they can.

Planetarium
1-4 players, ages 10+, 45+ minutes
By Game Salute

Matter swirls around a new born star, coalescing on the planetoids that orbit it. Planets evolve, grow and migrate in their orbits, forming a unique solar system by the end of every game. Planetarium is a game of creation, chaos and terraforming on the grandest scale.

Players are competing to crash combinations of elements onto planets that then allow them to play cards to evolve the planets in a variety of ways, with each player looking to evolve planets in the system to suit their own secret endgame goals.

On a turn a player will firstly move a matter or planet token in a clockwise direction around the star. The board is mapped with a series of lines, tracing orbits around the star, and it is along these lines that the tokens are moved. If a matter token moves onto a space occupied by planet token then the matter token is placed on the player's mat (on the respective planet). In the same way, planets can also be moved onto matter tokens, placing the matter tokens on the player's mat.

In the second part of a turn a player can play Evolution cards from their hand at the cost of the matter tokens they have collected on their player mat (some cards have other special requirements to play). If a player plays a card, they score the cards points and check to see if their card has changed the state of the planet from hostile to habitable by checking the total habitable and hostile points played to the planet (some end game goals require planets to be hostile or habitable). The player may then draw a card from one of three decks, Low Evolution (cards that score less points but require less matter to play), High Evolution (cards that score more and are harder to play), and Final Evolution (cards that can only be played on a player's final turn).

The thematics of the game have been developed with an eye on the science, led by a scientist working on NASA's search for life on Mars. Evolution cards thematically include all kinds of planetary phenomenon, from asteroid impacts, atmospheric effects, to geological events. Final Evolution cards mark the relatively stable state a planet is in at the end of the solar system's development and include classifications for the final planets such as Hot Jupiter or an uninhabitable frozen dwarf planet.

The game consists of a beautiful game board with handfuls of matter tokens, approximately 36 Evolution cards and 16 Final Evolution cards (all with unique space art and flavor), player mats, and player and score markers.

Dobble Beach
2-5 players, ages 4+, 10+ minutes
By Asmodee

Make a splash with this durable and waterproof version! Play at the beach, by the pool or on your next outdoor adventure!

Dobble Disney Princess
2-5 players, ages 4+, 10+ minutes
By Asmodee

Prove that you have a keen eye with Dobble Disney Princess, featuring Snow White, Rapunzel, Ariel and many more!

Tabletop Gaming Magazine #9
By Warners

Reviews including Mechs vs Minions, Aeon’s End and Doom, Star Wars painting guide, the next instalment in our Dungeon Master’s Guide to RPGs and a chat with Warlord Games about its Doctor Who and 2000 AD miniatures games. Plus…

· An exclusive interview with Steamforged as the UK publisher’s record-breaking Kickstarter success Dark Souls: The Board Game emerges into the light.
· Ahead of the UK’s biggest tabletop show in June, we round up the games you won’t want to miss at this year’s UK Games Expo in our bumper preview.
· We take a tour inside the secret board game maker behind Pandemic, Scythe, Terra Mystica and more of the tabletop’s biggest titles: Panda.

For years, the armies of Waiqar the Undying have stayed within their borders, launching only minor raids across the border. But now, a nameless threat stirs within the Mistlands, and legions of undead cross into the realm of Terrinoth under Waiqar’s command! The Daqan Lords have sounded the call to war, and their finest generals lead armies of warriors and golems to take up defensive positions in the border territory of Roth’s Vale. The first battles of the next great war are about to begin.

RuneWars: The Miniatures Game is a two-player miniatures game of battles between the great powers of Terrinoth. In each game, you and your opponent will gather armies of miniatures and lead them into battle—blocks of infantry will maneuver for position, cavalry wings will wheel and slam into a weakened flank, and monstrous rune golems or carrion lancers will smash through formations of lesser warriors. Innovative command tools, two distinct factions, and countless ways to customize your experience combine to offer an unparalleled miniatures gaming experience in RuneWars. Finally, with forty-eight beautifully sculpted, unpainted figures, you’ll be able to paint and customize your armies to bring an entirely unique touch to your games and enter the hobby of miniatures painting!

Dice Pack
Runewars Miniatures Game Accessory
By Fantasy Flight Games

Your set of custom dice is essential to claiming victory during a game of RuneWars: The Miniatures Game. After all, you may be able to maneuver and wheel your troops perfectly into position, but you’ll want to have your dice close at hand when it’s time to attack. The RuneWars: The Miniatures Game Dice Pack offers you a tool of convenience: another set of custom attack dice, identical to the set that you receive in the RuneWars Core Set. When you’ve added the dice in this Dice Pack to your dice from the Core Set, it’ll be easier than ever to keep your focus where it belongs—on the deeply tactical movements and combats of RuneWars.

Team Titans Special Play Card Pack
Blood Bowl Expansion
By Games Workshop

A ton of weird, wonderful and bizarre events can and will happen on and off the pitch during games of Blood Bowl. The best way to represent these happenings is with Special Play cards, and this set of 26 Team Titans cards, usable by any and all teams adds a whole load of extra anarchy.

They’re split into two decks – the Benefits of Training and the Dirty Tricks decks – each featuring a wide variety of extra rules that make your games of Blood Bowl that little bit more unpredictable. You don’t have to use them, but you’re missing out if not!

The Gouged Eye Team (Orcs)
Blood Bowl Miniatures
By Games Workshop

We are Orcs and dat’s no lieWe’ll make yoo screem an’ make yoo cry…

Once a laughing stock, the Gouged Eye has employed filthy tactics, brute force and lots of punching to rise through the ranks to become big players in the upper echelons of Blood Bowl. They’ve won the title before, and they can do it again – a far cry from the early days of the team, when it was a miracle if their throwers were facing the right way.

Do you want to add a fearsome and slightly absurd Troll to your Orcish Blood Bowl team? Or maybe a Goblin team? You’ve come to the right place. This excellent multi-part plastic kit contains the parts you need to assemble a rather large Troll (look at him – he’s wearing a human’s helmet as a knee pad, for Nuffle’s sake), winding up to fling a Goblin into the end zone.

Supplied with a 32mm Blood Bowl round base, featuring a hole to slot the ball into when he has possession.

----------------------------------------------

WARGAMES

Modern War #29 : Putin’s War Crisis in the Baltic
Magazine + Wargame
2 players, 120+ hours
By Decision Games

Putin’s War: Reclaiming the Soviet Empire in Eastern Europe is a strategic-level, two-player wargame of low-intermediate complexity that covers the campaign that could occur if the Russian dictator decides to give up his strategy of incremental “opaque” warfare and instead simply try for a big win. The game’s sub-systems are crafted to present a supreme-commander’s-eye-view of such a war. It’s therefore almost fully strategic in its perspective, with only the most pastel of operational and tactical undertones added to enhance its tone and texture in those regards. Putin’s War takes two experienced players only about two hours to complete, and it’s adaptable for solitaire play.

The above list has been compiled based upon distributor and retail new releases mailouts I receive. Please note that there may be some geographic differences in release dates and/or availability of items. Please contact your local store for more information.